Gov. Inslee doesn’t rule out tax increase to pay for education

It’s likely that there’s going to be some kind of tax increase if the state Legislature plans to fully fund basic education. Because the idea of an income tax seems to be going nowhere, could it fall on property taxes?

KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross asked what kind of tax increase we can expect.

Gov. Jay Inslee says that remains to be seen, emphasizing on Seattle’s Morning News that some kind of tax increase is a big “if.” There is a task force studying just that, however. Still, he wouldn’t give up an amount.

“No sense of doing that,” Inslee said.

The discussion of a tax hike continues as the Legislature finds ways to fund education and reduce school district’s reliance on local levies. Inslee says that is a “big challenge,” but got a bi-partisan agreement to do just that by 2017.

Inslee’s gubernatorial opponent, however, says the state doesn’t need any kind of tax increase.

“I don’t think we need a tax increase to fulfill the [McCleary decision],” Bill Bryant said. “We have a state budget that’s over $40 billion. We have education obligations that will require 49-50 percent We should set that money aside first, then figure out how to fund everything else.”

And he knows how to do that?

“Right now we spend about $12,000 per student, which is above the national average,” he added. “It’s not a function of how much we’re spending. McCleary is about how equitably we are or are not in spending it.”

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